Lamhaa Release Date : 16,Jul 2010

Producer Bunty Walia, Jaspreet Singh Walia
Director Rahul Dholakia
Music Mithoon
Writer Rahul Dholakia, Raghav Dhar
Lyrics Sayeed Quadri
Release Date 16-Jul-2010

Lamhaa opens in the year 2009 and talks about the separatist protest movements that initiated in Kashmir which (it repeatedly claims throughout the film) had started ‘18 years’ back in the year 1989. Not only does the film goes appallingly wrong with elementary mathematics, but also adds to the audience ambiguity through its constantly changing geographical boundaries and jumbled history.

Lamhaa mercilessly doesn’t deal with the Kashmir issue in an outright jingoistic approach like those countless formula films that have been made on the theme that show India as a clear-cut hero and Pakistan as a definite villain to exploit patriotic sentiments. This film highlights several discrepancies in our own country from corrupt army officers, conniving politicians to scheming businessmen. But beyond that when it attempts to fit in a clichéd conspiracy theory within the preset political premise, it falls flat on its face.

Officer Vikram (Sanjay Dutt) is sent on an undercover operation to Kashmir when the Indian intelligence gets information of a probable big terror attack in the valley. There a separatist leader Haji (Anupam Kher) has been fighting against the Indian government since 1989 for Azad Kashmir. Haji’s protégé Aziza (Bipasha Basu) supports her mentor in his mission. Haji’s other ex-protégé Aatif (Kunal Kapoor), who is now a reformed militant, wants to contest elections from the valley to win his people and province.

For Vikram, spying seems to be a child’s play. He sneaks into the police commissioner’s office in broad daylight as if playing hide-and-seek with him. He walks into a seamster’s shop who gives him ‘tailor-made’ tips and tracks terrorist identity by just having a look at their jackets. (Was the writing conveniently inspired by the investigative tele-series CID?) For no good reason Vikram keeps stalking and supporting Aziza in her attempts. Thankfully (though the background score gives a slight hint) a romance track is averted.

Through all his lackadaisical spying, Vikram finally learns that the neighbouring country is going to repeat the assault of 1989 on a larger scale. So as you look forward to a striking climax, you are sorely disappointed to discover that the supposedly colossal conspiracy merely ends up being a bombing plan on a political rally, seen for a zillion times in Hindi films. The intended twist in the plot is predictable and the convenient culmination is void of any dramatic moments.

It takes time to absorb the wide-ranging characters and their varied conflicts in the film and yet you do not understand all of them. Vikram is specifically chosen for the Kashmir operation though he doesn’t belong to the region.

Yet there is no background account to justify his character, making him look shallow. In the initial reels, one tends to get confused if Anupam Kher’s Haji is a protagonist or antagonist as he keeps juggling between the two identities through the film. His fallout with Aatif is merely mentioned in a flashback scene. And then there is Mahesh Manjrekar playing Peer Baba in a cameo who remains quite undefined through the film.

The screenplay by Raghav Dhar and Rahul Dholakia appears disjoint with constant unconnected scenes and subplots. Though the writing attempts to touch several related concerns from the half widows of Dardpura village, victimized prostitutes to the psychosis of the border security soldiers; these works only peripherally without being plugged into the core narrative. Bipasha Basu’s public humiliation scene seems to be distinctly derived from Monica Belluci’s Maléna. Nevertheless the actress is poignantly effective in her outburst.

The pacing seems too hurried and the restless editing by Ashmith Kunder and Akshay Mohan barely allows you to breathe, gasp, feel, absorb, react or relate. The incessant disturbing camera movements by cinematographer Jamie Fowlds annoy you more than having an effect. Mithoon’s soothing musical score has its charming moments.

The performances are not bad but don’t rise above the script. Sanjay Dutt plays his age but his character seems half-baked. Bipasha Basu is decent in a different role. Kunal Kapoor adds grace to his character but sounds meek in delivering political speeches. Anupam Kher is effective.

For the common man, the politics of Kashmir has often been a complicated topic. This film doesn’t make it any simpler. Lamhaa doesn’t enthrall beyond a few interesting moments.

Tere Bin Laden Release Date : 16,Jul 2010

Producer Pooja Shetty Deora, Aarti Shetty
Director Abhishek Sharma
Music Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani, Loy Mendonsa, Dhruv Dhalla
Writer Abhishek Sharma
Lyrics Jaideep Sahni
Release Date 16-Jul-2010

Osama Bin Laden is back. He has put on weight and is looking younger with botox. And he is all set to attack you with some side-splitting moments in this crime con-medy Tere Bin Laden.

Set in Pakistan, Ali (Ali Zafar) works as a television reporter for local news channel but wants to migrate to the US for better prospects. After being deported from US once and having his American visa rejected seven times, Ali approaches a travel agent who assures him of an entry to America if he can manage a couple of lakhs.

That’s when he stumbles across Noora (Pradhuman Singh) whose facial features come too close to Osama Bin Laden. Ali hatches a plan to shoot a fake video of Osama with Noora and sell it to news channels for big money. So he hires services of a makeup artist (Sugandha Garg), an Arabic scriptwriter (Chirag Vohra), a dubbing artist (Rahul Singh) and a cameraman (Nikhil Ratnaparkhi) to create the video footage that creates big furor across the globe.

Unfortunately his plan backfires when Pakistanis are forbidden entry into US due to security reasons after Osama’s reappearance. Further an American intelligence officer (Barry John) arrives in Pakistan to trace Osama’s whereabouts.

It’s impressive how an Indian director makes a film entirely set in Pakistan and takes several digs at Pakistan’s infrastructure and America’s intelligence in a smart and subtle manner. Writer-director Abhishek Sharma humorously pulls off every politically incorrect aspect that we unofficially know about the two nations through the comic genre of his film. This one is India’s very own Hot Shots Part Deux.

Slapstick in some scenes, satirical in most and silly at times, Tere Bin Laden clicks primarily because above all its farce, it has an entertaining story to narrate. The writing is witty, funny, crisp and moves at a brisk pace so much so that one doesn’t look for too much of conviction in the bigger picture.

The con game in the film is redolent of the con-comedy Khosla Ka Ghosla. Also the song ‘Ullu Da Patha’ written by Jaideep Sahni is in the vein of ‘Chak De Phatte’ written by him in Khosla Ka Ghosla. The dialogues have an authentic Urdu touch to it but with pungent Punjabi punches, it’s not difficult to appreciate the humour. Noora’s rendition of Arabic lines as Osama is hilarious. So is the scene where his most priced possession, a murga turns into a martyr. Thankfully the film doesn’t divert into unnecessary romance track or forced song-n-dance.

Showcasing comical flair like Riteish Deshmukh and a façade like Shahid Kapoor, Pakistani actor Ali Zafar effortlessly glides through his role. Pradhuman Singh is hilarious while pulling off an Osama Bin Laden. Barry John pretty much justifies the firang character he plays. Blessed with impeccable comic timing, Piyush Mishra is uproarious. The ensemble character cast of Sugandha Garg, Nikhil Ratnaparkhi, Rahul Singh and Chirag Vohra play their parts well.

Tere Bin Laden is laden with some genuine laugh-out-loud moments. Entertaining, enjoyable and surely worth a watch!

Udaan Release Date : 16,Jul 2010

Producer Anurag Kashyap, Ronnie Screwvala, Sanjay Singh
Director Vikramaditya Motwane
Music Amit Trivedi
Writer Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane
Lyrics Amitabh Bhattacharya
Release Date 16-Jul-2010

Much against our will, at several instances in life, one has to helplessly bow down to some entity – be it your teacher, boss, kin or anyone else. Udaan narrates a tale where a son is almost on an extended detention under his disciplinarian father’s domain. Through this allegory, Udaan inspires one to break away from all bindings of life and fly freely.

In its very first scene, four teenagers jump off their hostel compound wall to indulge in an adult film. Caught by the warden, they all are expelled from their school. One of them, Rohan (Rajat Barmecha) is sent back to his hometown Jamshedpur where his father (Ronit Roy), whom he hasn’t met for years, isn’t much happy to have him back. Rohan is also introduced to a younger stepbrother Arjun (Aayan Boradia), who he never knew existed.

Much against his aspirations of being a writer, Rohan is forced to study engineering and work part-time in his father’s factory. The tyrant rule of his father cuts off all the independence he enjoyed in his school days. As life turns more and more claustrophobic under the roof of his dominating father, the only respite he finds is in his uncle (Ram Kapoor) and college senior (Anand Tiwari).

The story of Udaan can be encapsulated as the unspoken track in 3 Idiots where the disciplinarian dean (Boman Irani) loses his son whom he tries to mould in his way rather than letting him live his life.

Interestingly, Udaan doesn’t merely restrict the father-son divide till the academic expectations that parents have from their children, like in 3 Idiots or Taare Zameen Par. Ronit Roy’s multifaceted father figure is added with layers of frustration of being a single parent, a widower and having a regimented past of being brought up under as much discipline by his strict father which he carries forward to his children. He is caring but not loving. His quest for control has conquered his warmth as a parent. So much so that he wants his son to address him as Sir and not dad.

The writing by Vikramaditya Motwane and Anurag Kashyup is real, refreshing, straightforward and effective. The initial few sequences simply communicate the daily lifestyle of the father which the son is attempting to adapt to. But the proceedings keep you riveted because the routine is as much unusual to the viewer as much to Rohan. Also the writers at no point get carried away to portray the father as an outright villain.

His character is balanced with sporadic humane shades but since he is too rigid and incorrigible, the story works towards the liberation of the son over the rectification of the father. The continual dominance of the father on the son doesn’t get monotonous, since the prolonged narrative gives time to Rohan to reach the threshold of his tolerance. That justifies, both, the slow pacing and the long length of the film.

The screenplay delicately works towards the relationships between the central characters.

While the rift between Rohan and his father increases, reciprocally, he develops an endearing attachment with his kiddo stepbrother. Some scenes are kept long to stay with the protagonist and allow you to experience or at least relate to his mental turmoil. Yet the sequences don’t seem stretched and the director keeps the treatment comprehensible without tending to get artistic or abstract.

Milenge Milenge Release Date : 09,Jul 2010

Producer Surinder Kapoor
Director Satish Kaushik
Music Himesh Reshammiya
Writer Shiraz Ahmed
Lyrics Sameer
Release Date 09-Jul-2010

I'm brewing a new conspiracy theory that cinema halls are turning up the air-conditioning in order to numb our brains. It is thanks to the sub-zero atmosphere while watching Milenge Milenge that my limbs were frozen, not permitting me to escape this loud and dated piece of celluloid.

Priya’s (Kareena Kapoor) sole purpose in life is to meet the man of her dreams. She has three conditions, he shouldn’t smoke, he shouldn’t drink and he mustn’t lie. Of course, he could be a serial killer, a Russian spy or even a cross-dressing gay ballerina--it probably wouldn’t matter to our dizzy headed damsel.

Priya meets a tarot reader (Kirron Kher) (who looks suspiciously like Sunita Menon on whey protein). She predicts that Priya will find the love of her life on a Bangkok beach on so and so date and so and so time. Not just that, she also predicts that her lover will be wearing rainbow colored clothes. Hmmmm….?!

As luck, fate, or maybe destiny would have it; Priya is suddenly selected to travel to Bangkok as part of a youth festival! (Yes, in spite of the extensive cinematic journey that Ms Kapoor has made, she plays a college going ‘youth’ again).

So, Priya, with wind in her hair and too many ‘rom-com’ dvd’s in her head, arrives with crossed fingers at a Thailand beach that could be a little ahead of Madh island (Mumbai).

Our hearts were racing fast to find out if ‘Sunita Menon on whey protein’ had made an accurate prediction. And the anticipation wasn’t in vain. Playing the guitar tunefully and half submerged in water, is the man of Priya’s dreams. He is Immy (Shahid Kapoor, also playing a college going youth!). As luck, fate or maybe destiny would have it, Immy doesn’t smoke, doesn’t drink, and lo and behold—he doesn’t lie either.

As you watch an elated Priya talk marriage before they finish their first walk together, you feel a little sorry for her. Not just because she may require psychiatric help for buying into such crap and wanting to marry a perfect stranger…but also because you are privy to a little secret.

Immy is actually a drinker, a smoker, and brace yourself---he even LIES! Wearing a mini skirt and a tube-top (!!??!!) Immy had sneaked into a sleeping Priya’s room. After falling in love with her while she was sleeping, he stole her diary and, as luck, fate, or maybe destiny would have it, he knew all her secrets.

When Priya finds her diary in Immy’s room, it slowly dawns on her that this is not the man from ‘Sunita Menon on whey protein’s prediction! She is heartbroken that she professed her undying love for him.

Meanwhile, Immy has had a change of heart and is having his last drink & smoke. No, he is not going to end his life to escape the psycho chick, he has decided to be the man that Priya wants him to be, and will henceforth be a teetotaler.

Tough luck, because Immy’s party is busted by Priya, who has decided to leave him. If it is fated, destined or they are lucky, they will meet again. But how will he find her? He asks, now heartbroken himself. Besides the youth festival that had all her details and her many friends that were still around, there would be no other way to find her. Alas! He would lose her forever!

Destiny’s unwanted child--Priya , has a masterstroke of an idea. She writes Immy’s phone number on a 50-rupee note and buys a book on, no prizes for guessing this one, ‘Destiny’. She then writes her name and number in the book and decides to drop the book off at a random bookstore. If it is fated, destined or if they are lucky, the note or the book will reach them, and then she will know that they are meant to be.

Underlining this ‘serendipitous’ moment, we hear the horrific nasal cry of a tortured elephant. Or is it Himesh Reshmiya’s screeching voice for a background score. I can’t tell for sure.

After another hour of 90’s choreography, jarring background music, silly gags and unflattering low angles shots of Kareena, the lovers have started to pine for each other. They are both getting married on, yes, you guessed it, the same day! Neither has found the book or the note.

Will fate, luck and maybe destiny bring the star-crossed lovers together? If you really care, go watch Satish Kaushik’s Milenge Milenge. Make sure you outsmart the cinemas by carrying a thermal blanket with you. In case you don’t want your brain and your limbs numbed.

Frankly, this film is old wine in an even older bottle.

Red Alert - the war within Release Date : 09,Jul 2010

Producer T P Aggarwal, Rahul Aggarwal
Director Anant Mahadevan
Music Lalit Pandit
Writer Aruna Raje
Lyrics Javed Akhtar
Release Date 09-Jul-2010

Story: Suneil Shetty, a cook who delivers food to a band of Naxals holed up in a forest, is forced to join them, when the cops follow him and stage an encounter. Is this the initiation -- and politicisation -- of the apolitical simpleton into India's most violent and visible grassroot movements today?

Movie Review: Now what could be more topical than a film on India's most burning issue of the moment: the Naxalite movement that has metamorphosed into a civil war that seems to be setting our nation on fire. Ananth Narayan's film, scripted by one of our finest women directors, Aruna Raje, is doubly important. First, it literally takes off from the headlines that have been glaring in your face in the last few years. Second, it dares to enter not only the geographical territory of the war within, but also explores the more tricky ideological terrain. Is there any justification at all for the maoist movement which has created heroes out of people who are allegedly responsible for unprecedented violence and death? More importantly an ideology which is gradually growing into a mass movement, resulting in an ever-growing Red corridor, running through the heart of India.

I Hate Luv Storys Release Date : 02,Jul 2010

Producer Karan Johar, Hiroo Yash Johar, Ronnie Screwvala
Director Punit Malhotra
Music Vishal Dadlani, Shekhar Ravjiani
Writer Punit Malhotra
Lyrics Anvita Dutt, Kumaar, Vishal Dadlani
Release Date 02-Jul-2010

'I hate luv storys' is the maxim Jay lives by. But as an assistant director to Veer, the most famous romantic filmmaker of Indian Film Industry, Jay has little option but to live with larger than life, glossy, cinematic love on an everyday basis. Things only get worse when he is made to work under the new production designer on the film… Simran, with whom he shares the strangest first encounter!

Simran loves luv storys; So much so that even her life has begun to resemble one. With her ideal job and the perfect boyfriend, Raj, she lives a blissful, dreamy life; One that is rudely interrupted by Jay's cynicism.

The turmoil's of Jay and Simran's life, is ironically interweaved with the Luv Story that they are working on…. But will Jay and Simran ever find their own Luv Story – go find it out in a theatre near you on 2nd July???

Krantiveer - The Revolution Release Date : 25,Jun 2010

Producer Mehul Kumar
Director Mehul Kumar
Music Sachin-Jigar
Writer Mehul Kumar
Lyrics Sameer
Release Date 25-Jun-2010

June 25, 2010 (Sampurn Wire): Designed as a sequel to the super successful Krantiveer (1994) which got Nana Patekar the Best Actor, National Award, Krantiveer - The Revolution (KTC) is a weak attempt at recreating the patriotic fervor which the original had.

Roshni (Jahan Bloch) is the young daughter of the man responsible for the last revolution, Pratap Narayan Tilak and his wife (Nana Patekar and Dimple Kapadia). She just like her dad wants to rid the nation of corruption, and the evils present in the society. She gets herself a platform by joining a TV channel as an investigative journalist. She is hell bent on exposing all the scams in the country including those involving high profile businessmen and top ministers. Along with her friends Vishal (Samir Aftab), Goldie (Aditya Singh Rajput) and Uday (Harsh Rajput) she takes this crusade forward and becomes successful eventually despite many odds.

The sole reason why Krantiveer was a success was because of KK Singh's dialogues, Nana Patekar's character and Mehul Kumar's direction. Here Singh is not involved with the project, Nana is not acting in the film and the veteran director though having made a sincere attempt, falls short. There is no direct relation of the plot to any of the 26/11 terror attack scenes which come towards the climax. Though Mehul Kumar has tried to show authenticity by using footage of the 26/11 terrorists attacks, he fails to impress the audiences.

His debutante daughter Jahan has been made to rant lengthy dialogues from the word go. While she does it with sincerity, it doesn't really work. Too much responsibility has been given on her shoulders leaving less scope for the rest. New comers Samir Aftab, Adiya Singh Rajput, Harsh Rajput put in their honest efforts too. Senior actors like Ranjeet, Farida Jalal hardly get any scope to perform. Aman Verma playing the corporate head honcho, Mukesh Tiwari and Govind Namdeo playing sleazy ministers act well.

Music by Sachin-Jigar is passable and the songs 'Khuda mere khuda' and 'Chhote tera birthday aaya' work on screen. But the songs 'Firangi paani' and 'Lau jalee' were not needed. Editing and cinematography don't match up to standards.

Though it may not be worth an effort to go to the cinema hall, the film definitely appears like a genuine attempt to awaken the young Indians to come forward and erase corruption from our politics.